#use of Jenova's shape-shifting ability

[demialwrites]

Broken Toy

I'm annoyed that I lost the previous Sephiroth non-con I wrote. I'm pleased that I came up with another idea. Turk!Reader gets toyed with under the cut.

You were assigned to be President Rufus's bodyguard for the evening at some banquet. The details of why it was being held were unimportant. The president seemed annoyed that he had to go. That made you briefly curious, especially after he seemed to enjoy his inauguration so much.

“No trouble is expected but I thought it was prudent to send someone because of the recent assassination attempt,” Tseng explained.

President Rufus seemed even more annoyed at needing a babysitter but added nothing. He wasn't the type to take it out on his subordinates, anyway.

You chose to wear a short, strappy dress in a light fabric and classy colour. The straps allowed your arms to move. The waist was tight and the skirt flared out, ending at mid-thigh, giving your legs freedom. You made sure to wear thin shorts hidden underneath, with a pocket for your phone. A nice balance of pretty and practical. You weren't going to embarrass the president with your choice and would fade into the background nicely behind him.

“I didn't want to bring you and I know you didn't want to come,” the president told you on the night in question. “Let's make this as painless as possible, shall we?”

He said that with a smile but you could tell there was an order hidden in there for you to loosen up.

“Yes, Sir.”

He seemed pleased with that answer. You arrived to the event on his arm but anyone in the know knew you weren't exactly a “date.” He didn't give any specific instructions because you were trusted to know how to behave. In other words, just stand there and be observant. Be a pretty deterrent.

Scarlet was overdressed in comparison, which was to be expected. She wore red, again, but this time with more ruffles and sequins. It wasn't an ugly dress but it looked like she was competing in a competition no one else entered. You blended right in, as long as you didn't stand beside her. Not that you were going to.

Everyone sat for the speeches. The speeches. You rolled your eyes when you thought no one was looking. You took your place, standing at Rufus’s side, while he waited his turn to give his own. He was speaking dead last so it was going to be ages. You scanned the room but everyone remained obediently in their seats. No threats. But rather than get too comfortable, you continued to scan the room every once in a while. It was a way to tune out the shallow Shinra circle-jerk on stage. As much as being out in the field was dirty, and the choices you had to make were hard, it was more comfortable than this.

You spotted what might be a welcome distraction. A field assignment might have wandered in and you felt like it showed up just for you. In the hall, after catering staff swung the door open and closed, something resembling a black robe’s bottom hem disappeared off to the left.

You placed a hand lightly on the president’s shoulder. He turned his head. You leaned in close.

“I see a black robe out in the hallway.”

He glanced across at the room full of people. He frowned. “Find out what it's doing here. Do it quietly. Take care of it before the night is over.”

“Yes, Sir.” You bowed.

“Take care of it” meant “eliminate the target if necessary.” Either way, you were relieved to leave that room full of self-important people. Rufus, you could handle. A whole room of people you had to be polite to, you could not. Not without being absolutely exhausted halfway through the night.

The black hem disappeared around the corner. It didn't quite resemble what you'd seen of the black robes. It did enough to warrant an investigation. You followed around the corner and the scene repeated itself. This time, the black hem disappeared around the corner into the women's washroom. You paused, then realized it was absurd to wonder if the black robe knew where they were going. Needing to get to the bottom of this, you went into the washroom.

It was as expensive as you expected. Every surface was clean, cream-white, and so shiny that you could see yourself in the floor’s reflection. Thankfully, the stalls went down until an inch off the floor. There was even tile cut into the shapes that make up the Shinra logo set in the walls, framing the mirror. The only thing you didn't like was that someone installed those impractical sinks you sometimes see in restaurants trying to put on a fancy façade.

The speeches were still going so the bathroom was empty of attendees. But it was too quiet. The distant, dull murmur of whoever was giving the current speech had faded away at one point. That made no sense, which should have been a warning sign. But your Turk pride didn't let that stop you from starting to open the stall doors one-by-one. Your low heels scuffing on the floor was still the only sound as you found each one empty. You got to the handicap stall, expecting a dramatic finish. You swung it too hard, the dull bong of its impact making you flinch. The creepy situation was starting to get to you.

“Behind you,” said a deep, male voice.

You whipped around, sneering defensively.

You've never met this man, however, you recognized the former SOLDIER, Sephiroth, immediately. You've seen still shots from camera feeds, posters, and illustrations, but you’ve never heard the man's real voice. You would like to think his voice would sound comforting if it wasn’t for the context. He was also as terrifyingly tall as they say. He's holding his signature sword and smiling, too nicely, at you. What he wanted with that smile and why he was here, it couldn't be good for you.

He glanced down at your dress with cat-like eyes and back up to your face. “Aren't you beautiful?”

“No,” you denied immediately. Panicking. No one calls someone beautiful while advancing on them with a giant sword.

He merely chuckled at your attitude. “You're too hard on yourself.”

“What do you want?” you demanded of him, eyes darting to the door behind him. “Back off.”

You're not sure what your plan was. You talked big but in reality, you were just a scared woman trapped in a bathroom with a big, strong murderer. You had speed but so did he, according to the legends. Legends that also said he was supposed to be dead. He was blocking your escape through the door so you did what you could only do. You dashed into the handicap stall and slammed the door–and lock–shut. After a second of thought, you flattened your back to the wall, expecting a long sword to stab through the door.

Undeterred in the slightest, he easily sliced through the lock and pushed the door open.

“That's cute. I like you,” he said, flashing you a smirk, as if commenting on a cute mouse trying its darndest to escape. Even if he meant his words to sound nice, it sounded like a hungry wolf talking down to a frightened rabbit instead.

He turned back to the door to use his sword to barricade it shut. Without enough of a gap under the stalls to slide under, you were trapped in here with him.

You eyed him as he slowly took the remaining steps towards you. He grabbed your shoulders and squeezed. Not too hard, just enough to show that you wouldn't be able to move an inch. And you did try. To your shock, he went in for a kiss. Now that he was here, this close, you froze up. He pulled back and thumbed your chin affectionately, as if to reassure you. Maybe he doesn't want much more, you desperately lied to yourself.

Of course that wasn't true. This time he went in for a bite to your neck. You squealed for the first bite, immediately clamping a hand over your mouth to muffle any subsequent sounds because he continued to bite. One of his thickly gloved hands travelled down your front, gently squeezing each breast they went. Each touch sent a pleasurable lightning strike to the core of you. You cursed your thin dress. The free hand left your breast to pull one of your straps down to bite in that very spot previously covered by the strap. He suddenly yanked on that strap, tearing the dress halfway down the front and back. His teeth left marks. So many marks. He left you resembling a cheetah on your upper half.

You thought he was going to tear your bra next. Instead, he pushed it up, creating overflowing soft flesh. He grinned and bit you there, too. He sucked and glanced up at you with a lazy predatory gaze. A cat holding a toy in his mouth. When he was satisfied, he let the bra fall back into place, leaving another mark behind. You blushed, grateful that at least this one would be easier to hide.

Your phone started vibrating in the small pocket in your shorts. Sephiroth found it immediately. He glanced at the caller ID and then held it up for you to see. ‘Rufus Shinra,’ it read.

“Think he's worried?” he asked in a mocking tone that was real this time.

“Maybe. Maybe you should let me go.” You tried to put venom into your voice but it was looking like you might as well give up at this point.

“So cute. I'm not done with you.”

Sephiroth let the phone drop to the floor. It bounced once and landed face-up. The screen splintered but remained lit.

“They're looking for you so we'll have to cut this short. Heh, speaking of…”

Being pleased with his little joke made his smirk break into a creepy smile. He temporarily slid his sword from the stall walls and carefully cut your shorts. You held your breath and tried so hard to stay still that you trembled. Never in a million years were you moving with that thing so close to your skin. Next, Sephiroth pinned one of your shoulders to the wall with a palm. He undid his belt. It landed buckle-first on the floor. Then he opened his black coat. He groaned in relief while unzipping his leather pants. A large, dark spot had formed in his black underwear over an obvious bulge. He pushed those down and his cock sprang out.

It looked like it had been waiting, full, mauve in colour, and smeared with precum all around the head. It was, unfortunately for you, proportionate to the rest of him.

You looked at it, then his face, the expression which had not changed much all night. “Just get it over with.”

He slowly leaned in, eyes boring into yours. You expected retaliation. He picked you up by your thighs like you weighed nothing and weaved your legs around his waist. You gripped his arms for balance and in a sort of misplaced panic. What you didn't expect next was for him to blur. His image split in two, then quickly reformed. The new image was President Rufus. It was still Sephiroth's expression, though. It didn't look quite right.

“Maybe you'd like this instead?”

Hearing your boss’s voice say that while Sephiroth pumped his–or Rufus’s–cock with his fist, made you dizzy. He didn't seem to be considering anything you wanted, just what he thought you wanted. Him thinking you wanted anything at all from him was out of left field in the first place. Or maybe he was still mocking you and had been all along. It was tiring and thinking about this psycho’s intentions was getting you nowhere. He was already pressing the tip of Rufus's length to your entrance. This was not something you wanted burned into your mind and could bear to see every time you saw the real Rufus. Not without your face heating up to dangerous temperatures, anyway.

You covered your eyes and firmly patted his shoulder. “No, stop. Change back.”

“What, you don't want to sleep your boss?”

You took your hand from your face because you heard his original voice. It was a trick. He split again, this time reforming as Director Reeve.

“I never had a problem with this one,” Sephiroth/Reeve said, eyes narrowed in a pleased manner.

You let Sephiroth's strange way of describing him slip past you. You only met Director Reeve once. He was nice. A little high-strung, but otherwise normal. You didn't want your impression of him ruined by Sephiroth's twisted game. You stiffened and beat his shoulders.

“Change back,” you insisted.

The phone started vibrating again. This time the screen read ‘Tseng.’

“Don't,” you said to Reeve's face.

Sephiroth split and reformed again. With his real face, he laughed at you. “I wasted too much time, didn't I?” Fear made your neck and arm hair stand up. He was having fun. You didn't have much time with that fear because he was pushing in.

“Ow,” you whined.

“You got this.”

“Shut up,” you said weakly.

“I can make this harder,” he said.

Despite that, he did not get any rougher. Nor did he get especially violent. He didn't need to. You couldn't go anywhere. The tiled wall was no longer cold and it was damp with your sweat.

He started to fuck up into you, getting painfully deeper with each thrust. You started to wonder why he needed to go this far. Why you hadn't just been killed.

“Why me?” you finally had the courage to ask.

“You? You remind me of someone.”

Thoughts of what exactly that meant and who it could have been swirled in your head until you got a little nauseous.

Sephiroth decided to take his time with a steady pace. He leaned close, treating you to groans and soft gasps right in your ear. You briefly considered covering his mouth. But this psycho would probably start sucking on your fingers for all you knew. A faint echo in the large bathroom made it harder to tune all the noises out.

The loudest groan yet finally signaled the end of this, or so you hoped. He panted as he cock filled you in long spurts. It filled you until his semen tickled as a couple of globs dripped from your skin to the floor. He must have been pleased with how things went because he kissed you behind the ear. Like a cherished lover. His next words renewed your panic.

“Why haven't you finished?” he asked, pushing your legs down and allowing you to stand again.

You landed shakily. His expression was expectant so words just came out of your mouth. “Well, umm-”

You couldn't believe it. You almost gave him some excuses about having trouble finishing and…as if your Turk pride wasn't hurt enough by being caught here and played with by the enemy.

He split in two again. You had reached your limit with his nonsense. You shut your eyes tightly. Silence. You waited for more teasing or another colleague's voice. Nothing came so you dared to open your eyes. Sephiroth, and his sword, were gone. He tricked you again.

In case it was part of some new game to return and play with you some more, you fled the bathroom. Because of the state of your clothes and body, you avoided the banquet room where you come from. There was a hallway behind it near what looked to be mop closets and a staff washroom. You leaned against the wall and pulled out your broken phone. The poor thing, you thought. You felt a kinship with it, both of you have been broken tonight. Most of the missed calls had been from President Rufus so you called him first.

“When you didn't report back, I had to evacuate everyone. What happened in there?”

He sounded unhappy. It threatened to break the thin façade of professionalism you were struggling to maintain.

“U-um.”

He didn't press the matter immediately and seemed to be considering your shaky reply. You heard Director Heidegger’s voice in the background. The president told him dismissively that everything was under control then continued your conversation. “Where are you?”

“...a back hallway. Behind the banquet hall.”

“Alright. Stay there,” he ordered.

The president found you crouched there in the hall, trying to wrap the remnants of your ripped dress around you and painfully fully aware that you're still covered in bite marks. You kept your thighs clamped shut, hoping no one would notice your nudity there. You felt his stare but also a gratitude for the distance borne from the professionalism of your work relationship. Even if he did dare to ask what happened, you wouldn't be answering tonight. He thankfully called Tseng instead.

“Send Rude to take her home. She's…”

“Had a scuffle with Sephiroth in the bathroom,” you filled in loudly, glossing over what happened with an acceptable lie.

There was a pause and you thought he might question what you said, but didn't. “...right. You heard that, I assume?” he said to Tseng.

President Rufus kept Tseng on the line, speaking in serious tones. At one point, he dropped his coat onto your shoulders, startling you. You hurriedly pushed the buttons through the holes to close the coat, your fingers stumbling a few times. A few stragglers were filing past. You turned to face the wall, head bent down to avoid any eye contact.

[crisiscutie]

Safer Sephy anon here. Yes, non-con.

Sure thing. You guys ever wonder what happens when Sephy is horny during his victory high? Well...

Pairing: OG Safer Sephy/AFAB Darling.

Content Warning: NSFW, Non-Con. Tentacles. Teratophilia.

Just as your weakened body was about to collapse, tentacles extended towards you, coiled around your body, and stroked you with a twisted fondness.

You whimpered, still in immense pain from the recent battle with Sephiroth. Even though you had tried to help Cloud and his party defeat Sephiroth, he had still managed to best all of you.

As you watched your friends fade away, joining with the Lifestream, tears cascaded down your cheeks.

Cloud was the last to go, his mako eyes locked onto yours. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something to you, but nothing came.

Soon after, Sephiroth spoke for the first time, almost startling you. His familiar, velvety voice had a loud ethereal echo to it, as he mockingly reassured you.

"There's no need to be sad. They'll become a part of me... Isn't that what you want?"

A small, slimy tentacle caressed your cheek and guided your gaze towards his ascended form, forcing you to behold the monstrosity he had become. The man you once loved was no more.

The other tentacles that caressed your body then removed your clothing, leaving your body exposed to the cold air.

An enormous, cock-shaped tentacle began to stroke itself against your folds, slyly warning you of the incoming brutal penetration, while a singular sucker tentacle latched onto your clit, suckling it for all it was worth.

You let out a loud whimper, wanting to escape from this monstrosity. Sephiroth responded with a dark chuckle, his slit eyes twinkling with amusement and twisted adoration at your panic.

"Do you enjoy it that much, darling? I can make it better for you. Much better...~"

Before you expressed your disgust, the cock tentacle teasing your folds forced its way into your tight cunt, stretching it to the limit before it's even halfway inside. You gritted your teeth at the sudden invasion, feeling your stomach bulge from the sheer size of it!

Yet Sephiroth couldn't care less. The beauty of the moment, a symbol of the union for man and wife, held his attention.

Unwanted pleasure and aches surged through your body, as the sucker tentacle on your engorged clit refused to relent, matching the intensity of the cock tentacle pounding your poor cunt.

He then fastened your body to his own, granting you a lovely view of him now, sailing through the cosmos, annihilating worlds in the name of JENOVA and your honor.

"Together, we are unstoppable. These pitiful worlds shall fall under our dominion," he declared. Who knew if he addressed that to you or to JENOVA as more tentacles forcefully entered your abused, gaping cunt.

Piercing screams left your lips, the devastation of worlds unfold before your eyes. Trillions of lifeforms were obliterated, the very dimension around you both shifted.

Sephiroth continued his deranged monologue, a veiny tentacle now being shoved into your mouth and roughly fucking your throat.

"My goddess. My queen. My breeder. Nothing will come between us again," Each word he spoke had a slight hint of wicked excitement.

Your muffled screams were a twisted symphony for his ears, one of the many things that exhilarated him.

From destroying the pitiful humans and their Gaia to reclaiming his precious doll and upholding his mother's legacy, Sephiroth had no chance of being overthrown. The cosmos was now his playing field.

You had your abilities to thank for helping you endure this brutal fuck, your belly now distended from the cock tentacles stretching it.

After what seemed like an eternity, the tentacles finally filled you to the brim with his corrupt, divine seed, forever marking you as his.

"Mine..." He said as your body trembled, the cum now leaking out of your plugged holes.

The tentacles were still sheathed inside you even after their release.

His enormous, ethereal wings then wrapped around you like a protective cocoon as he conjured a paradise world for you to rest in.

You'd assume the new roles he bestowed upon you when the time came.

Your will had vanished, leaving you as his perfect doll, forever bound to his divine presence.

Writing this reminded me of my favorite smutty prompt from the HoS AU, so it was super fun. By the way, this Safer Sephiroth is NOT the same as the one from the Dissidia AU! Two different temperaments around/towards their darlings, for sure. And Dissidia Safer Sephy has legs.

[strelitzia-mystery1097]

How in the heck do Jenova Cells even work?!

I will say here and now that I haven't watched/played/read every FF7 thing in this franchise so if something I talk about is actually clarified in some obscure thing or I get something wrong, then comment about it.

So let's start with the beginning. Who or what is Jenova.

...🤷‍♀️

We honestly have no idea about Jenova'a origins beyond her crash landing on Gaia via meteorite. We don't know if she's the only one of her kind, or if she has successfully destroyed planets before (considering in FF7 AC Sephiroth talks about using Gaia to travel to another planet, that meteorite was probably a planet Jenova destroyed). She's very much your typical cosmic horror creature. But wherever she's from, it's not the planet.

So Jenova crash landed and that damaged the planet, (an injury that the planet is still healing from, hence how wacky the Northern Crater looks) and then Jenova started using her hallucinations/shape shifting abilities on the Cetra to trick them. And then Jenova turned them into monsters. Yes, all the monsters in FF7 are Cetra or descendents of what was Cetra (kind of awkward when Aerith kills them lol).

Side tangent. I wonder if Jenova just works differently on different species. Like if Aerith was exposed to Jenova like what happened to her ancestors would she just turn into a monster instead of what happens to humans? Also does that make all the monsters part of Reunion or not? What would that Cell even be called. M (Monster) Cell? C (Cetra) Cell?

But yeah Jenova was trying to destroy the planet.

Eventually the remaining Cetra sealed Jenova away until 2000 years later she was excavated and mistakenly identified as a Cetra by Gast.

Later on Hojo created Project S and Hollander made Project G in an attempt to create a Cetra that could lead Shinra to the Promised Land.

In Project S, which stands for Sephiroth, Hojo injected Sephiroth directly with Jenova Cells when he was a fetus. In Project G, which stands for Gillian, is where Gillian was injected with Jenova Cells and her DNA was mapped onto Genesis as a fetus (Angeal, while he is part of Project G, was not purposely made for it. Angeal was naturally born after Gillian was injected with Jenova Cells).

The strands of Jenova Cells even function differently after being introduced into a human system, S Cells and G Cells.

Project S was the superior Project and most SOLDIER are created in a similar way to the later created Sephiroth Clones.

Remake implies that there are Project G SOLDIERS too, but it could of been referring to the Tsivets.

So...

How does the Cells function?

Starting with G will probably be shorter so I'll do that.

Genesis and Angeal, while not as powerful as Sephiroth, were still more powerful than most. However the prime time of powerful is short lived. Both of them start to degrade into their 20's and start developing some inhuman abilities.

*ALSO NOTE HERE THAT G CELL DEGRADATION IS DIFFERENT FROM S CELL DEGRADATION*

After an injury that doesn't heal, Genesis starts to degrade. His hair and body starts to go white, he grows a black wing, and most importantly, he can created Genesis Copies.

Genesis can map his cells onto other SOLDIERS and make them copies of him with them still retaining a little of thier former skill in their respective weaponry, otherwise they are just copies of Genesis.

However Angeal is the result of Project G. He has a wing like Genesis (right white wing) but his degradation is slower and he's able to make Angeal copies out of people and monsters. He only properly degrades (white hair and all that) when he tries to self destruct kinda when absorbs all those monsters and forces Zack to kill him.

I do personally find it interesting that G Cells seem to psudo-inherit Jenova's abilities to turn things into a different form. Even Sephiroth wasn't able to do that unless he was using part of Jenova's literal body- Well until Rebirth but we'll get to that.

But there are two things that stick out to me.

One, could Genesis or Angeal experience Reunion or would it be different for them? Is that why Genesis showed up in the Mt Nibel Reactor?

And two, why is Gillian normal? Like Lucrecia was injected with Jenova Cells as a by product of Sephiroth being injected when she was pregnant with him and she's stuck unable to die no mater what. But Gillian was directly injected with J Cells and she kills herself just fine. I honestly don't think there is an explanation for this one though.

Also when talking about G Cells I should talk about the Tsivets but-

I never played DoC and I tried watching Maximilian dood's playthrough of it and I just couldn't.

From what I know is that the Tsivets wear like mako suits otherwise they die? Also they all have real weird powers like Nero (Rip Sonon in that Remake Dlc) and Weiss. Also Shulke can like dive into the internet? I dunno that game was not for me. Please tell me if any of the Tsivets have abilities that are actually comparable to other characters with Jenova's Cells because I wouldn't know.

Okay now onto S Cells woo!

So Sephiroth, probably most of SOLDIER, Sephiroth Clones, and Cloud all have S Cells. And they function pretty differently than G Cells.

For example, Sephiroth can't actually make Sephiroth copies like Genesis or Angeal. Sephiroth cannot physically change any of the people with his Cells like Angeal or Genesis either.

But S Cells are considered superior for many reasons.

Sephiroth can create hallucinations and illusions to change the copies or pieces of Jenova to look like him when needed. Also he never degraded himself.

SOLDIERS and Sephiroth Clones can but that degradation is different for S Cells. Instead of turning white and slowly dying, they become puppets that only try to go and enact Reunion.

The Reunion Theory (Hojo created it) was that if separated, Jenova would come back together, a Reunion.

Sephiroth pre-Nibeheim incident was the most powerful guy but he was pretty human (cat eyes and silver hair not included).

Then things go wrong.

Sephiroth freaking snaps due to Jenova, false information, and other existentialist crisis stuff.

Also here I should address a question. How sentient is Jenova? Is she a mind beyond human comprehension? Or is she much more animalistic and just works off of instinct? Did she intentionally help Sephiroth go crazy or was it just Reunion?

Like her backstory, we don't know. But regardless, it was confirmed that in FF7 it is Sephiroth in control because of how strong his will is. He's insane and mind broken, but he's the brains of the operation for all that happens in FF7.

Sephiroth in FF7 is able to puppet and command the Sephiroth clones, do crazy stuff like flying or going through floors, use illusions, and use Jenova's body to create crazy boss fights. Also at the end he's able to transform himself into a crazy monster form for the final boss fight for the party.

Cloud also is able to like astralproject himself to have a solo final fight with Sephiroth. I don't know what Cloud's potential is with using the S Cells to his advantage but I doubt he would able to use as well as Sephiroth. Cloud did accidentally use the S Cells to get the memories of Zack and Tifa's memories of Cloud though so... that's interesting.

Anyways jump to AC. Kadaj, Loz and Kazoo- I mean Yazoo are remnants of Sephiroth. They aren't actually made of S Cells, but Sephiroth will and power. Once Kadaj gets Jenova's head Sephiroth is able to possess him because he finally has Jenova's Cells. Meanwhile Geostigma is also caused by Sephiroth and Jenova in the lifestream. This is also the first time Sephiroth gets a wing like Genesis and Angeal. His black right wing s iconic afterall.

Okay now it's Remake time.

Sephiroth time travelled woo! Don't ask me how that works with worlds and such. I don't care if we get an hour of exposition in Part 3 as long as it helps me understand what that's all about properly.

However I can talk about how Sephiroth's powers are a bit different thus time around.

Like how in the OG he did illusions, but he couldn't make Cloud hallucination himself as everyone can't see it. I remember in AC Cloud would kinda have a mini hallucination of past memories in that one scene of him clutching his infected arm in pain with the cool Sephiroth cat eyes for a moment (and that is referenced in Remake) but that's all that comes to mind. Just with Sephiroth at least. Cloud had like multiple hallucinations with Aerith and Zack.

New ability two is that Sephiroth Clones can now fuse with monsters. Monsters would have Jenova Cells now that I think about it so... cool.

I do find it funny that Sephiroth took the wing and now the monster thing from Genesis and Angeal lol.

Again, how Sephiroth is able to jump worlds and such is not something I can quite understand yet. I honestly think that's more a Lifestream and Whispers thing than a Jenova thing. Like it's Sephiroth will power (think of the Remnants for example) that gives him that power and not Sephiroth going around injecting whispers of fate with S Cells or something.

Um...

That's all I can think of for now.

Damn, trying to comprehend the biology of a cosmic horror is tough.

[altocat]

I read somewhere said that Jenova was inspired from a horror sci-fi movie call "The Thing", which basically was about an life-form that able to imitates people. Now, I don't know whether that idea is true or not but it lead me to a pretty interesting hcs.

What if Sephiroth is also able to change his forms, imitates other organisms? Like, it's one of the traits he inherited from his "mother".

It's kind of terrifying to think about it, especially when we are talking about post- Nibelheim Sephiroth since we know how cruel and manipulative he can be. I can absolutely see that Sephiroth will use that ability to mentally torture Cloud even more than what he already done in the original. Imagine he using Cloud mom's face and voice to remind him how he failed to save her, give Cloud the sense that he cannot trust anyone because ANYONE can be Sephiroth himself, etc.

Geeze, Cloud can never have a break from his silver nightmare, is he?

He does use Jenova's abilities to transform into the image of Tifa at the Northern Crater, though it's a projection and not his physical body. But I'd like to think that Sephiroth has since fully activated his shape shifting abilities and can use it to torment his enemies. I don't think it's as fluid for Sephiroth as it is for Jenova, since Sephiroth is human and is still bound by his human limitations. But he can use this talent every now and then, however sparingly. He's more keen to mimic voices than he is to shift because it tends to be less complicated.

[azure-steel]

So I watched AC again for like the billionth time a couple of days ago, and after an in-depth conversation with @ghostofnibelheim/ @roleplay-abiogenesis2 about it I've been thinking about it a whole lot since.

Like, I know the remnants are supposed to represent the difference facets to Sephiroth's personality;

Kadaj: Ruthless, cunning and vindictive. Incredibly intelligent making him the brains of the outfit.

Yazoo: quiet yet charming. Very attractive, Cool calm and eerily collected.

Loz: strong, tunnel visioned, immature, overly emotional and sensitive due to immaturity.

At least without looking it up that's what I get from their characters. They are all very extreme representations of everything that makes Sephiroth, well... Sephiroth.

But then there's Cloud whom they refer to as their "Big Brother" and "Black Sheep" even though his relationship with Jenova and Sephiroth as a whole is vastly different. Not a remnant as such, but a clone and the first and only largely successful one at that considering that it's stated in lore that Sephiroth's DNA cannot be replicated. But like, Cloud isn't a true clone as such, he's just been brutally tampered with to hold parts of Sephiroth/Jenova inside him which is where Sephiroth's obsession with him comes from.

Reunion is the mass joining of all of Jenova's parts to make the whole and Jen!Sephiroth needs the missing pieces Cloud harbours to make that whole. I mean I'm telling you what we already know, I'm just attempting to make it all make sense again in this rambling theory we have here.

Because the Remnants lack the ability to pinpoint where they need to look for Jenova's head in the movie. They know that's their goal, and they have the knowledge to know where to look for clues, but no direct attraction to the calamity's exact location where as Sephiroth did have this instinct about him, as does Cloud to a lesser degree. He knew what to do, and where to go, Jenova's goal etc. The remnants don't and rely on other sources to tell them their next step.

But it isn't until Kadaj gets a hold of Jenova's remaining cadaver that he's able to summon Sephiroth but... Is that really him? Or is this Jenova shape shifting again and showing Cloud what he fears and hates the most? (A bit like Stephen King's IT where the creature feeds on fear and and morphs into the things that you fear the most) or is Sephiroth and Jenova so interlinked now that there's no discernable difference anymore?

Because I always struggled with this part of the story. Crisis Core showed us that Sephiroth was actually a good man, with good morals. He didn't agree with his orders and actions but felt he had no control over them. Orders were orders and he'd been so heavily indoctrinated by ShinRa from a very young age to just do as he's told when he's told to do it.

It wasn't until Genesis literally sprouted a wing and flew away that he grasped the notion that being a free man was even a possibility and planted that seed. But even then, he just talked about "quitting" and getting away rather than destroying everything. He showed little to no signs of mental instability, only that he was desperately lonely and extremely unhappy in his situation.

Nibelheim happened so very suddenly. One minute he's of sound mind and the next he's utterly insane. The descent into that insanity was so incredibly short (where no one tried to help or even attempt to relate to his better nature of which he DID have one. You did Sephiroth so fucking dirty here, Squeenix...) that I feel we're lead to believe that he just gave up after finding out the truth which gave Jenova that chance, in Sephiroth's moment of weakness, to take over. I'm sorry, but ain't NO WAY this man, so calculated in his assumptions despite how sheltered he is would suddenly just be like I'M CETRA NOW LETS KILL EVERYTHING. It makes absolutely no sense.

But again, come AC we're again being forced fed the notion that Sephiroth is the one in control, that he's so intune with Jenova that he can continue to respawn and cause devestation because the planet can't digest him when he enters the lifestream...

... Apart from the fact that it actually CAN!

See, after the fight in AC, when Kadaj returns and is dying in Clouds arms, Aerith calls to him, and he is accepted into the flow of the lifestream, which tells me that the parts which make up the remnants are actually human, not alien. These extreme facets of Sephiroth are what made him HUMAN and NOT Jenova. That the two are so closely knitted together that the lifetream cannot split them apart on its own hense why Sephiroth is constantly being rejected by the lifestream, not just because he has a strong will to survive and exact Jenova's bidding, but also because his make up is so very complex, thus giving him this pseudo immortality as it were.

I mean, Angeal never came back, maybe that was a simple case of just not wanting to? I don't know at this point.

But my point is that I believe the remnants do not have Sephiroth's reunion instinct because their make up is wholly human, because Sephiroth was actually conceived naturally and birthed to a human mother despite being tampered with in the womb. But he was still a person before the hatred and the crazy and the remnants show us that.

[kellbellsparkles]

FFVII Sterling Silver (Pilot Part 1)

I call it a Pilot because not only am I practicing my literary skills, I've been going through so much trauma in my life currently, it takes away my motivation to really create.

I wanted to introduce my fan version of Cloud and Tifa's kids: twins Sterling and Silver. Approximately three years after Dirge of Cerberus, Cloud is protectively raising them while their mother is comatose from a robbery on Seventh Heaven where the ring leader had a gun loaded with mako infused bullets. She was pregnant when it happened, but like with Lucrecia, the inherited Jenova cells won't let them die. The babies gained incredible power as a result and are under the protection of their father and Shinra.

I hope you guys enjoy it. I want to spread joy and inspiration so others can have a better day.

It was a blustery winter night in the city of Edge. At three in the morning, two special toddlers were up far past their bedtime: two-year-old twins, Sterling and Silver Strife. They were special because they inherited mako and Jenova cells from their father, but they were at an alarming high level. The boy, Sterling, possessed great intelligence and awareness. From being a fetus, the Jenova cells incorporated memories and knowledge of both his parents. The girl, Silver, possessed great physical ability and flexibility. 

Having a higher concentration of mako, she had been born with a series of mutations outer and inner. She underwent many surgeries from infancy to give her a normal human appearance: a scar on the left side of her neck where a second mouth once sat, scar tissue on the top tips of her ears after being trimmed down, a ring scar from when teeth were removed from her belly button, and two parallel scars shaped like tiny beads on the back of her neck aligned with her spine where two teeny eyes once blinked. Her internal organs were significantly altered, having two hearts instead of one as an example. Her bones can shift and bend in any way imaginable, encouraging her hyperactivity and bravery.

She easily scaled her crib bars and stuck the landing. As she trotted towards her brother, Sterling laid wide awake, blankly staring at the ceiling. His thoughts were consumed with memories of his mother being shot with a mako infused bullet; the bullet piercing the womb containing Silver; a voice offering his aid to save her in exchange for becoming a part of him; coming into the world; being brought to his comatose mother for the first time... The poor little boy knew too much and had no one to tell. He feared disappointing his father after hearing him say he wanted his kids to live a normal life, so he abstained from speaking to the fullest.

"Psssst," Silver whispered. "Steeeewiiiing." 

Silver's voice pulled him back into reality. Though startled, he turned on his side to face her. "Yeah?"

Silver grabbed his crib bars and hopped happily on her little feet.

"It snowing outside!" she squeed. "Come see!"

Sterling sat up to view the window with the curtains folded open for them. The snow twirled and performed a glistening waltz. However, one detail stood out to Sterling.

"It's still nighttime," he said. "What time is it?"

"I dunno," Silver said innocently. She stood on her toes. "But come on! Let's build a snowman!"

"Right now?"

"Yeah, yeah! Deh gonna be mountains and mountains!"

Sterling sat up and stretched drowsily. "If it's JUST snowing, there won't be mountains and mountains. We'll have a better chance in the morning."

"But dad will be gone away on his vroom vroom in the morning!" Silver whined. "I wanna supise him nooooow!"

Sterling blinked in perplexion. "Surprise?"

Silver toddler sprinted to their door. With her strengthened legs, she squatted and hopped, successfully grabbed hold of the knob and turned it. 

"Aw, geez," Sterling mouthed. He knew that without him, great peril could befall his unheeding sister. He used his inherited strength to climb out of his crib and cried out, "Wait for me, Sil!" However, his scrambled brain prevented him from a coordinated landing; he stumbled and belly flopped instead. "Ouch…." 

Silver, though impulsive, still put her brother first. She hurried to his side, helped him onto his feet, and said, "You okay? That looked like big ouch."

"I'll be okay," Sterling reassured her. "Thank you."

"Okay!" Silver grabbed Sterling's hand and led him out into the hall. "Let's go!" 

Sterling could only follow and entertain her fanatic imagination. Then, together, they stood at the top of the stairs.

"We this much steps to be gwown ups!" Silver declared. "Follow me!" She let go of Sterling to lead by example. "One step." One little foot down, followed by the other. "Two step."

"You're not using the rails," Sterling said shakily as he looked on with fertilizing anxiety.

"Daddy doesn't use the rails," Silver retorted, eyes peeled forward as she marched on. "Thee step. Five step."

"You skipped four again."

Silver responded with a sound fart. Sterling furrowed his brows.

"I know that one was on purpose," he vexed.

"Ya," Silver said shamelessly. Sterling's nose wrinkled upon picking up Silver's reply.

"Ewwww," he grimaced. "You better not have been eating any more garbage." 

Another of Silver's mutations included being able to consume anything without harmful affliction. 

"We eat cheesy peppewooni pizza tonight, remember?" she told him. "And eating gabage is fee ceaning service and colletive contibootion to socytee."

"It's still bad for you," Sterling argued.

"Daddy says too much candy, too, but I fine thee more of Denny's candy wappers today." Silver hopped down from the last step. Her feet balleted, propelling her to face her brother in her triumph. "It your turn!!" 

Sterling gulped; Silver had gotten lucky, but one slip from the top to the bottom meant certain death to a baby. He looked behind him, wondering why their dad and Denzel haven't come to stop them by now.

"Steeewiiiiing!" 

Once again, Silver's clinging vocals tugged him along.

"Yikes, I'm coming…." Taking caution, he sat on the top stair and scooted to the next one.

"Why you come down that way?" 

Sterling pondered for an appropriate response to please his rapidly curious sister.

"My, uh, butt itches," he replied sheepishly. 

"Diaper rash?"

"I dunno. Maybe?" 

"Tell me how it feels! I wanna scatch my butt that way, too!"

Sterling blushed. Silver was only behaving as a normal two-year-old should. In Cloud's absence, he felt responsible for setting an example while playing the toddler role."It's not really working. It doesn't get in the right spot."

"Booooooo."

At last, Sterling's tush touched the main floor. He stood himself up. "All that's left is to go outside, right?" 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!!" Silver raced to the door and leapt to the knob, only it wouldn't turn like the last one did. She tried multiple times while dangling. "Whaaaa?" 

"Of course," Sterling said, nodding. "It's locked."

"Looooocked???" Silver let go of the knob and plopped down on her back.

"Waaaaah!!" she cried as she flung her limbs about. "I want to go outside and supise Daddy!! Ahaaaaaaawaaaah!" 

Sterling panicked. Instinctively, he hated seeing his beloved sister cry and wanted to do something.

"Aw, don't cry!" he pleaded. "We can…. uh…. draw a snowman!"

"I want a REAL snowman! I wanna supise Daddy and make him happy!! Waaaaaaahaaaaah!!"

Sterling felt a lump rise in his throat; he realized that his sister truly wanted the same thing he did. Their dad would give them soft smiles, but never exuberant, jolly ones that told them he was filled with glee. Sterling knew the burden of memories Cloud carried with him and yearned to alleviate them. He yearned to give him that spark that had been missing throughout the life he'd seen him live: two children and their father frolicking in the winter wonderland in their yard…. 

"Hey, sis…." 

He knelt down to her level and held her hands firm. "There's a way to get outside."

Silver stopped flailing.

"T-There is?" she hiccuped.

Sterling pointed to the lock dial below the knob. "Do you see that gold sideways diamond thingy?"

"Yeah…." 

"All we have to do is turn it right side up and turn the knob after." 

"R-Really?"

"Really."

Silver sat up, sniffling lightly. "Hey, Stewing?"

"Yeah?"

"How are you so smart? And why do you sound like a gwown up? And why do you never talk around Daddy?"

Sterling tensed; he wasn't prepared for his sister to ask him so suddenly. "Well, I…." 

Silver got on her knees and leaned deeply into Sterling's personal space. Sterling struggled to keep from making eye contact, feeling all to tell she would not stop asking, or worse: ask him in front of their dad. "You see, I'm…. not normal…. and Dad wants me to be. If he heard me talking like this, he'd be sad." 

"Boooooooooo." Silver's face became a crumpled piece of paper in the moment. "What even is nohmal? Sounds bowing. I like you betteh this way." 

"But Dad–"

"Why Daddy be sad? Why Daddy be sad when you talk and play?"

"It's not that."

"Then wat?"

Sterling scratched his chin; how to best approach this that would be acceptable to Silver and protect his secret?

Secret…

"It's a secret," he answered with a cute smile. "Do you like secrets?"

Silver's eyes sparkled like party lights for a special occasion. "Ya, ya!"

"It's a special secret that only you can know about. No telling anybody or else it won't be a special secret anymore. Okay?"

"Okay!"

"That's a good girl." 

"We have supah special secwet cub!"

"Yes, we do!"

"Yaay! Now we make ar supah special secwet cub house outside!"

"I thought we were building a snowman."

"We bild ar snowman in cub house!" 

Toddler logic made next to no sense, but it mattered little to Sterling as it warmed his heart seeing his sister have fun. She leapt for the lock handle, but it was too small for her fingers to latch on. She stubbornly hopped and attempted several more times. Sterling came up behind her and lifted her by the waist. 

"Here," he said. "Try turning it to the left, now." 

Mimicking an excited puppy, she panted and squealed as she succeeded in her task. She quivered with glee as she turned the knob next and pulled the door open. Little droplets of snow trickled their way in. She cheered, "We did it!" 

As soon as Sterling set her down, Silver threw the door further open and zoomed outside. Sterling followed, watching as she pranced and skipped merrily. He took his first step into the snow bank; swiftly rose up to his knees.

"Oh my," he breathed, taken aback. "There was more snow than I thought…." 

[umbralstars]

I have been thinking about this for like a week trying to come up with an answer because it got me thinking too. About a lot of things.

So like, this is going off the assumption that the body we see in the reactor is even what Jenova looks like, right? The Temple of the Ancients in Rebirth does depict her both in the guise of a humanoid and her monstrous form, and then you have the Shadowblood Queen stuff. She also has more humanoid parts on her during her boss fights, so??

Assuming that the physical body we see in the reactor is the body of that Cetra that's been infected by Jenova and frozen in the Northern Crater, then maybe the cells that were taken Could have Cetra dna still. But that's also assuming Jenova didn't completely shape-shift and has just kept that form. Because I have found no evidence saying one way or the other about that (that I could find).

But that also begs the question of what a Cetra even is. Which from all the canonical, semi-canon, and debated canonicity sources I've read I don't know if there's a definite answer even to that. My interpretation time. The OG game and Maiden says that humans either were once all Cetra or that such a distinction did not exist because everyone could hear the voice of the Planet, and that humans lost that ability after Jenova came. However, Rebirth shows us that the Cetra and the "children of man" seemingly co-existed before Jenova even arrived; and implies that the full breakdown between umans and Cetra happened due to Jenova's manipulations. Cetra did move and make settlements and even taught the people of Cosmo Canyon, but eventually their people declined into myth with Ifalna and Aerith bring the only ones left.

But, I don't think that's the complete story. The way the Cetra come across to me is that there is both a genetic and cultural foundation for being Cetra; and that there might be humans who can hear the voice but are not Cetra because they lack that cultural connection. The most recent example which comes to mind is Rosen given he says this:

I wonder what "sounds" Rosen would be able to hear when he sleeps that his "natural talents" allow him (and the other Eyes of Rhadore) to specially perceive given his entire purpose is to listen and watch for minute changes in the lifestream's flow.

I should also mention that being a Cetra isn't just about natural abilities; there's also that cultural connection and training involved. We see this during Aerith's section in the Temple where she learns how to guide the lifestream via the spirits of her ancestors. The pools in that temple seem to be designed to allow for that type of training.

I don't think Rosen is a Cetra btw. While his people could have been connected to them his abilities are a hold over within Rhadoran culture, not Cetran culture.

Aerith cannot do nor understand everything just because of how she was born. She Needed Ifalna in her life to give her the stories and knowledge of their people and their connection; especially because Aerith's abilities did not even awaken until she was well into being a toddler according to Traces of Two Pasts. This is important for what theory I've come up with:

Even if Sephiroth does have Cetra genes (assuming that he even Could have any), I do not think he would have ever been able to hear the voice of the Planet due to the way he was being raised.

The reason for humans losing their ability to communicate with the Planet was because they became disconnected from the lifestream. It's possible that connection is something that is passed down And has to be cultivated in early childhood or else it is lost (or turned dormant); eg possibly Rosen as an example because the people of Rhadore were close to the lifestream still so while the connection is rare its not gone all together & obviously Aerith because she had an avenue to both.

This would also explain why the Cetra disappeared over time. They suffered heavily at the hands of Jenova and then in the wars that happened afterwards. We know very little about the way the Planet was before Jenova came, and we only get snippets of the after. The Cetra would have pockets of community (eg in Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon via the world intel and ruins), but more and more of their children lost the ability to speak with the Planet as those communities faced hardship or assimilated in with human communities surrounding them or losing their own cultural knowledge or the damage done to the Planet caused lingering problems until eventually we are left with Ifalna and then Aerith.

Back to Sephiroth, the reason I say his genes don't matter is because he was cut off from the Planet from the day he was born. Alien genes causing problems aside, Sephiroth was raised in a lab cut off from connections with people who weren't scientists and all of nature. Until he was 14 years old which is Way past my presumed cut-off date. Sure, the project under Gast was to make an Ancient, but also given how Sephiroth describes Gast he was distant and left when Seph was still very young (he also cannot give that cultural connection like Ifalna could to Aerith).

Hojo on the other hand does not believe in Planetology at all, and has a distain for Gast's entire line of research. He only sees the Cetra as a mere scientific curiosity while also believing his own achievements better than them; and when it comes to humans who take the lifestream seriously? Forget about, unscientific nonsense. That's also not to mention he figured out that Jenova was an alien even before Sephiroth was conceived it seems, so he was 100% doing his research into the alien part and not the vestiges of Cetra genetics that could still remain.

This is not an environment where Sephiroth could have ever learned to hear the voice of the Planet, if he had the chance at all. Sephiroth is not a Cetra; nearly all the people who created him wanted him to be. But it was also a corporate idea of what the Cetra were and not who they really were, this was a failed plan out the gate.

serious lore question

so, sephiroth was told he was Cetra but they also say that jenova looks humanoid because the entity possessed the body of a Cetra woman. so if they used jenova’s cells on sephiroth wouldn’t that actually make him part Cetra anyway?

[eyenipple]

Jenova killed the ancients by giving them a virus that turned them into monsters so I always wondered why Sephiroth never went after the last ancient in OG from the start, seems like the remake might change that and Aeris is gonna be a target for Sephiroth from the beginning, which makes so much more sense. 

And also makes me hopeful about maybe him using Jenova’s shape shifting abilities to transform into dead loved ones and get close to the gang and Aeris (like Jenova got close to the ancients before)? Like how cool would it be if they make it seem like they brought Zack back to life in the remake only to find out later it was just Jenova haha 

Seeing Sephiroth as early as Midgar makes me a bit worried tbh, not that I expect them not to have him show up in the 2 disks of the first part, like cmon they have to show Sephiroth..  But like I’m worried that they will introduce Sephiroth in this way, and that would suck cuz his introduction in the OG was one of the best antagonist introductions I have seen, with how you don’t know anything about him until Kalm, and that trail of blood in the Shinra building and how the game makes you wonder what side he’s actually on.. Like it was so well done, and I’d hate to see that go. I really hope these flashbacks start after they get Aeris from the Shinra building atleast.

Is this just an easter egg or a callback to Crisis Core or does it means Genesis is hiding in the shadows somewhere and gonna get shoved into all the scenes you love again *nervous laugh*

Also since they seem to be doing some of the ideas they originally had for the game I wonder if you could also take Vincent, Cid and Red xiii on a date.. Not that anyone would ever bother when Barret is there looking so fine, but just wondering haha

[maddmuses]

Cloud Strife

Age: 14-22/3 (Verse Dependent) Date of Birth: August 19th, 1986 (or 1987) Occupation: Shinra Infantry (former), Mercenary (former), Freedom Fighter/Eco-Terrorist (former), Owner of Strife Delivery Service Species: Jenova-Human Hybrid (Mako-Treated)

Universe-Inspiration: Final Fantasy VII/Remake inspred

Appearance Cloud is a handsome young man of modest height, higher-end estimations being at about 5’8” tall, with notably wild blonde hair, a trademark attribute that others frequently remember him for. At times Cloud’s hair is compared to that of a Chocobo’s plumage, something that often irritates him when it occurs. Fair skinned, with eyes that have taken on an unusual type of blue, due to a glow of light-green caused by exposure to mako, Cloud often stands out in a crowd because of this combination of features. Despite being considered handsome by some, there is a certain androgyny to him that allows Cloud to dress in drag well enough to be chosen by some men over actual, very beautiful, women depending on the nature of the makeup, hairstyle, and dress that he’s put into. Through his childhood Cloud often wore fairly unremarkable clothing, often shorts and a shirt to keep comfortable in the dust-bowl town. Later on, as an infantryman for Shinra, he wears the standard uniform, though unlike many of his fellows, Cloud is willing to remove his helmet commonly, even when on-duty. Following the incident in Nibelheim Cloud would wear an appropriated SOLDIER uniform, specifically in the style of 1st Class, though after taking on the Buster Blade he modified it by removing the right pauldron, allowing for simpler drawing of his large weapon. Notably, the remaining pauldron has large plates and a battered appearance, from amateur repairs. In later years Cloud would significantly update his attire, discarding the SOLDIER uniform after the revelation of his true identity, and status of stolen valor, albeit unknowing. Changing to a more comfortable and loose style of clothing, as well as favoring an overall darker aesthetic to match with his different perspective. Underneath his larger left sleeve Cloud tends to wear a pink ribbon that’s tied atop his bicep. Cloud is seen using a variety of oversized “broadswords” over time, though primarily he uses the Buster Sword, an heirloom given to him by Zack Fair, who received it from Angeal Hewley. However, after the defeat of Sephiroth Cloud would shift towards a multi-component sword known as the Fusion Blade that could be formed into a replica of the Buster Sword.

Personality Growing up, Cloud was often quiet and withdrawn from peers, lacking in self-confidence, often getting picked on by the other children in his hometown while growing up. Despite this he often shows concern for others, and genuinely cares for them, to the point of hiding his own feelings so as to keep from worrying or hurting them. This is a habit that would continue into his adulthood, often causing him to behave in an aloof manner to even his old friend Tifa. This same shy nature continues even after the restoration of his memories, giving Cloud a somewhat broody persona that friends and loved ones are welcome to tease him for. Prone to motion-sickness, it seems that Cloud often deals with stress by keeping himself in a state of irritability, insisting that he’ll be fine on airships so long as he remains nervous. This seems to not be the case both when he suppressed his own memories, and tried to be as he remembered Zack to be, as well as when someone that he trusts is driving the vehicle, notably himself in many cases. As he copes with the trauma inflicted on him by Hojo, Cloud suppresses his own memories and attempts to distance himself from potentially triggering them by using a combination of memories that he had of Zack, or things that Zack told him to fill in blanks. This process was selective, as Cloud was able to remember that he was from Nibelheim, and Tifa, but this is more likely a response to adapt to his surroundings and how those that he does actually know address him. Meeting Tifa and her friends, and experiencing life as a mercenary would trigger brief flahsbacks, which he then actively fought against. Despite this, he still remembers enough to know that Shira has wronged him, and actively seeks to hold Hojo accountable for his evil. On some level, this behavior seems rooted in Cloud’s hatred of himself, or the person that he once was, so much to the point that he was more willing to accept being a Clone of Sephiroth than to return to who he had used to be. When using the persona that was a blend of himself and Zack, Cloud was cocky and headstrong, knowing that as a 1st Class SOLDIER he was an elite who could defeat Shinra. However, he would still display a soft side, being protective of his friends and others in the slums, even if his fighting was done for the sake of gathering enough funds to leave Midgar. Cloud is ultimately a loyal person, though, and if his friends are in need he will place himself in any kind of harm’s way to ensure their safety.

Biography [Summarized in FFVII/FFVIIR and FFVII Crisis Core]

Abilities and Skills -Shinra Training: As an infantryman of Shinra, Cloud received a baseline of training that would make him suitable to serve in  a combat situation. When he enlisted and completed training, though, the war with the Wutai had been over, though, and so his training was not as extreme. Cloud’s training may have been more extreme, though, as he intended to promote into SOLDIER, and worked with Zack as his protege, which would allow him to eventually use the Buster Sword. –Physical Conditioning: Cloud’s physical condition prior to Hojo’s experiments was extremely good, allowing him to function as ground infantry. However, his lower body was notably stronger than other areas, a symptom of spending time with Zack and mimicking his habit of performing crouch-squats. –Swordsmanship: More a result of training with Zack than Shinra properly, Cloud is proficient with a number of types of swords. Cloud is specifically proficient with the use of oversized broadswords, able to utilize its own weight and his own to better move with them. –Firearms: Cloud is capable with rifle and handguns, though he is far from comfortable using them.

-Materia Attunement: Like others, Cloud is able to attune to the materia that is slotted into his equipment. Seemingly distinct from how SOLDIER operatives are supposed to use materia, Cloud is able to develop the strength of materia by using them, and upon mastery is able to spawn additional copies of materia at their weakest form. Through this, Zack seems to be able to also enhance the properties of weapons that he uses.

Superhuman Powers and Abilities -Human-Jenova Hybrid: Similar in nature to the enhancements that SOLDIER benefit from, Cloud was injected with Jenova cells, then exposed to mako, while he was initially deemed a failure Cloud’s body and mind still benefited from the treatment, though he was rendered catatonic for roughly five years, four of which were spent in stasis. With this, Cloud is capable of the same herculean feats as other members of SOLDIER, though with less of the training, and knowledge of certain SOLDIER abilities, such as copying Limit Breaks and absorbing materia, which Zack was able to do.

-Limit Breaks: Cloud is able to perform a Limit Break, relying on a surge of tension, allowing him to perform his greatest feats of magic and strength. While initially little more than short combinations of powerful swings, at higher levels he’s able to conjure small storms of meteorites, and blast foes the beams and waves of energy. –Summons: Through channeling mana into summoning materia that he’s slotted, Cloud is able to summon great beasts and gods through the contracts established in those materia.

Weaknesses and Limitations -Motion-sickness: Though this is suppressed greatly when utilizing his Zack persona, Cloud struggles with moving at high-speed, particularly in vehicles. These symptoms largely subside when Cloud is piloting the vehicle himself, or it is by someone he loves and trusts, or otherwise when keeping himself distracted.

Equipment and Possessions -SOLDIER Fatigues: Cloud, prior to recovering his memories and changing to his Cloudy Wolf attire, wore a SOLDIER uniform, though modified for the year of wear-and-tear, as well as ease of use with Zack’s Buster Sword. This includes the protections typical for that type of equipment, though they lacked the slots necessary for materia use that SOLDIER agents usually equipped personally. Notably, these are 1st Class fatigues.

-Buster Sword: A massive broadsword that he inherited from his mentor Angeal, the Buster Sword requires superhuman strength to wield effectively. Essentially a one-foot thick piece of metal, the weapon has a well-honed edge that is rarely used, and is highly durable, though unlike his predecessor Zack, Cloud makes regular use of the weapon, wearing it down, though he works to keep it in good shape until leaving it at Zack’s grave.

-Various Materia: Cloud has access to various materia, but generally favors Fire, Lightning, Summon, and Enhancement Materia. Cloud’s maximum Materia slots depend on the equipment that he chooses to use.

-Fusion Sword: A weapon that Cloud had commissioned to be designed as a functional replacement for the Buster Sword that he left behind with Zack. Composed of six different, smaller, swords, Cloud is able to use them all to similar effect, eventually building up to the complete weapon, which is a recreation of the Buster Sword.

-Fenrir: A customized high-speed, long-ride, motorcycle. The tires in the front are designed specifically to act as housing for the different components of the Fusion Sword, as well as the completed Fusion Sword.

[imnevergonnagiveyouup]

In advance I’d like to thank @xkuja & @gotitmemorised for helping me flesh this stuff out it seriously helped me a lot and you two are great.

Though Cloud’s contact with JENOVA is/comes from S cells (the extraction of Sephiroth cells infected tremendously with JENOVA cells) that still does not give Cloud the green light, that he isn’t in danger of suffering JENOVA-like effects.

Something I’ve expressed recently has been my dissatisfaction with how vii did not go through the whole “oh you have an alien’s cellular influence on you? wild” very well. Vervain said it well, it was done for “shock value” and that was it. So I’m going to flesh through it myself, along with Vervain’s and Enya’s help I’ve been able to come up with some stuff. Sephiroth isn’t the only one who has influence over Cloud. This “Sephiroth is the only antagonist” agenda that’s been pushed over the years (thanks square) is not going to do it for me because JENOVA is just as much of a puppeteer (more so in my opinion) than Seph is.

Who is JENOVA? What is it? JENOVA is an alien. A calamity who goes from one planet to another, destroying everything in it to claim it as theirs and then riding it and using it to get to another planet and do the very same thing. That’s it. That is its only purpose.

What can JENOVA do?  JENOVA can shape shift into whatever it wants. It can manipulate memories and cast illusions on others. JENOVA’s mere cellular structure is a virus in its own right. If infected by it you are under JENOVA’s control, you are its host. However not all living organisms can take such a virus, in most cases it turns them into monsters, only hungry to destroy and kill, or worst case scenario you die because the infection is just too much.

I’m into the whole sci-fi/horror field so aliens? People being injected with alien cells? Being hosts? That is shamelessly my jam which is why I want to expand on it and how it affects Cloud and why Seph is not the only “puppeteer.” Because Seph wasn’t the only one who wanted meteor summoned. JENOVA as well. That alien goes around claiming worlds and destroying them once its done, so whilst Seph wanted to call forth meteor to become God he was also playing into JENOVA’s hands. So that dynamic is never truly that easy and simple. It’s never oh seph had more control, no JENOVA had more control to me. They both are power strugglers in my eyes and are both equally antagonistic but since JENOVA was around far longer causing destruction and chaos I refer to it as the main antagonist since Seph was not /always/ bat shit crazy evil.

It’s already been shown to us that JENOVA cells can make humans lose some of their humanity, let it be through appearance or a change in look. The eyes, that’s a thing that happens because of it, however JENOVA is a violent creature by nature so its hosts will also show and lean towards being violent and more aggressive. It’ll be an environment they’ll thrive under, which in Cloud’s case he does. Cloud doesn’t do very well in the quiet, he doesn’t do very well when things are at peace around him. It makes him uneasy and it tips him off a little sadly, it’s something he has to work on. Not all of it is by JENOVA’s/seph’s influence obviously but they are both a factor to it. Seph’s influence over the JENOVA cells is far greater than any other clone or any other host with those cells because he was injected with them while still in the womb so Cloud will not have these godly abilities and things to that magnitude but his durability and strength are not within the bounds of /just/ a human. It isn’t just because of the mako but because of JENOVA as well. For the most part Cloud’s cells are dormant and need to be triggered to be awakened as it has been shown to us in the game and in any other different media source. However only because they’re dormant it doesn’t mean that they still will not take some sort of effect on Cloud. Again Cloud’s “superhuman abilities” aren’t all to blame on the mako but because of the JENOVA cells as well.

Some of Cloud’s hostility is thanks to JENOVA, who’s a violent extraterrestrial life form by default.

Cloud is some forms of contagious, JENOVA got rid of the cetra by tricking them into believing it was one of their loved ones and using its cells to infect them and turn them into monsters.

Cloud will always be at risk of mind manipulation, JENOVA is a mind hive alien, if its genes are dispersed it’ll always make them come back to it.

Some of Cloud’s ability that are beyond human is thanks to JENOVA.

JENOVA is a SHAPESHIFTER it’s how it got close to the cetra in the first place and then got rid of them, this meaning that Cloud will sometimes suffer in changes of appearance, the most well known is when his eyes change, like so:

However this only applies when the dormant cells are triggered to respond to the hive mind, it isn’t something that’ll happen all the time because again his clutch on JENOVA isn’t as blood deep as Sephiroth’s is.

JENOVA’s cells (”virus”) turned some of the cetra into monsters given their inability to handle its cellular structure. This means that Cloud is not 100% human anymore (obviously awraxa). I’m not going to go as far as to say that he’s some hybrid mixed human/alien or a monster in the making, but he’s in between that criteria. 

That’s all kind of my exterior analysis of it, now on to the interior. How he’s mentally and emotionally affected by this. I’m going to stress this right now. CLOUD IS AFFECTED BY MANY THINGS OUTSIDE OF THIS. But this post is entirely focused on JENOVA’s/Seph’s influence. I stress it for myself cause I don’t like reducing my boy down to two or three traits awraxa.

ANYWAY....... ..

As I was saying, by default JENOVA is a violent living species, all it does is destroy and move on. Some of Cloud’s hostility and violent nature comes from JENOVA because of those cells within him. From a cellular level he’s dealt with them when dormant very well, but when triggered awake he doesn’t even know that they’re affecting him (wow war flashbacks i know) so even if something were to occur once again he wouldn’t know unless something in him is obvious in its change and he notices it for himself. When this sort of situation happens Cloud will lose his grip even more so on the human aspects of himself. He won’t know how to react to things, how to feel certain things when it comes to his emotions and how to latch on to them and depend on them for reactions. He’ll be dependent more on instinct and his sense of survival. He’ll connect with that part of himself more rather than his humanly side. Kind of like in the game where it’s always go after sephiroth, go after sephiroth, oh this thing happened? lets figure it out quick so we can go after sephiroth again. So unless he can catch it himself he won’t realize that he’s slipping a little at all. Mentally, again, Cloud is always going to be at the risk of being controlled, either he’s aware of it or not, it’s always going to be there so long the hive mind that is JENOVA and Seph still linger and exist unless he tries his best to get a handle on what already affects him, which has been hinted in AC a couple of times. That even though it still affects him he doesn’t completely allow himself to succumb to it as easily anymore as it was during the timeline of the original game.

[goddess4302]

“A mystical man, stern and upright while at the same time dark and mysterious...”—Description

Vincent Valentine is an optional playable character in Final Fantasy VII, and the main protagonist of Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-. A former Turk with a mysterious past, Vincent's secrets tie him directly to several of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII's main antagonists.

Vincent wields handguns in battle and his Limit Breaks cause him to shapeshift as a result of the experiments Professor Hojo performed on him. Since his introduction, Vincent has become one of the most popular characters in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

Appearance:

Vincent is a man physically in his late twenties, and stands roughly six feet tall. He has crimson eyes and long black hair. He wears a red bandanna with his fringe emerging over it. Vincent's most distinctive feature is his red cloak, held in place over his shoulders and lower face by several buckles. Underneath his cape Vincent's attire is black leather with several straps and buckles. Vincent wears a holster for his gun strapped to his right thigh, and pointed golden sabatons on his feet. He wears a golden gauntlet on his left arm.

Vincent has kept this look in all his appearances, with subtle variations. Vincent was originally intended to appear in Kingdom Hearts alongside Cloud Strife, but was removed (see below) with aspects of his costume incorporated into Cloud's design, including the tattered red cloak and gauntlet.

In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Vincent's cloak was meant to have an organic feel and was difficult to animate. The developers decided changing his costume would conflict with his character, so Vincent was the only party member to appear the same as he had in Final Fantasy VII, although there are minor changes, such as a full bodysuit, a tattered cloak and a glove completely covering his previously partially bare right arm. All of the party members sport a pink ribbon on their left arm in remembrance of Aerith Gainsborough. Vincent is the only one who wears the pink ribbon on his right arm due to the gauntlet on his left arm.

In Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-, Vincent's Galian Beast and Chaos forms incorporate his design into them; Galian Beast is wearing a shorter version of Vincent's cloak as a kilt, while Chaos's feet resemble Vincent's boots.

Vincent's primary weapon in both Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-is the handgun Cerberus, named after the three-headed dog which guarded the Greek underworld for its three barrels (each of which is ornamented with a dog head in place of the iron sights). There is a key chain attached to it that bears a Cerberus-shaped charm. In the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children's prologue, when the Final Fantasy VII cast is shown fighting Sephiroth all wielding their base weapons, Vincent wields the Cerberus, rather than the Quicksilver portrayed in his official Final Fantasy VII character art, even though Cerberus is not included in Final Fantasy VII.

Personality:

“It's just that you're always so cold. I thought you didn't care what was happening." "Cold? Hmm...... I guess that's just how I am, sorry.—Cloud and Vincent

Dark and brooding over his past experiences, Vincent conceals many secrets. He speaks in a cryptic manner when he talks about his past, calling his traumas "sins". Despite his cold personality, he is not uncaring; at a point where Cloud admits he thought Vincent does not care about the Planet, Vincent states that is just how he is, and apologizes for the false impression.

Vincent despises Professor Hojo for his immoral actions, and it is the promise of meeting him that stirs Vincent to accompany the party in Final Fantasy VII. Vincent is reluctant to speak, although when he does, he typically has something important to say.

Kazushige Nojima has noted Vincent is naturally a loner, and had he not been a former ally of Cloud and his friends, it is unlikely he would have joined them in the battle with Bahamut SIN in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.[3] His voice actor, Shōgo Suzuki, noted Vincent's few appearances have a profound impact and that Tifa Lockhart's remark "they're our friends", after Vincent's arrival, shows his underlying warmth. He is noted to be similar to Cloud, only more mature, which influenced his character and voice work.

Vincent was originally intended to appear in Kingdom Hearts with Cloud, but it was decided to remove him due their similar brooding personalities and aspects of his design were worked into Cloud's new design for the series, which has been used for all of Cloud's appearances in the series thus far, with the exception of Kingdom Hearts II.

Story:

About twenty-five to thirty years before Final Fantasy VII, Vincent was a member of the Turks, then known as Shinra Electric Power Company "Department of Administrative Research". When he was assigned to supervise the Jenova Project in Nibelheim, he fell in love with a scientist named Lucrecia Crescent, an assistant to Gast Faremis. When he discovered her link to his deceased father, Grimoire Valentine, Lucrecia distanced herself from Vincent and entered a relationship with her associate, Professor Hojo. Lucrecia became pregnant and Hojo planned to use the fetus as a test subject for the Jenova Project.

Vincent objected to the use of humans—especially Lucrecia—as test subjects. In the interest of science Lucrecia proceeded with the treatment and became sick as a result. Vincent confronted Hojo in the Shinra Manor's underground laboratory, and amid the heated argument Hojo shot Vincent in the chest. Hojo used Vincent's half-dead body as test subject for experiments involving strengthening the endurance of the human body and metamorphosis, enabling the body to transform into various monstrous forms. While Hojo made Vincent's body stronger, the experiments failed because Vincent, though still living, remained in a death-like state.

As a last resort to rehabilitate him, Lucrecia infused the Chaos-tainted Mako into his broken-down body. The procedure worked, as Vincent's body, due to Hojo's previous experiments, was strong enough to become a vessel for Chaos, a mysterious entity with incredible power. However, Chaos was uncontrollable, and was only stopped when the Protomateria—a one-of-a-kind Materia—had a reaction to it. The Protomateria, discovered by Grimoire alongside Chaos, was theorized by Lucrecia to have been created by the Planet "out of necessity as a means to control Chaos and prolong its own inevitable fate", and was placed in Lucrecia's laboratory.

Lucrecia put the Protomateria inside Vincent's chest, enabling Vincent to control Chaos to a degree. Due to Hojo's experiments and the combination with Chaos, Vincent acquired superhuman abilities, such as amplified strength, speed, endurance, agility, regeneration, shape-shifting, and other powers. Vincent awakened on the operating table and responded to his modified body with anguish and rage.

His Dormant Coffin:

elieving himself responsible for Lucrecia's illness after her son Sephiroth's birth, Vincent locked himself within a coffin in the Shinra Mansion basement, where he slept mostly undisturbed for over twenty years to atone for his "sins". He constantly relived his nightmare as a punishment for his inability to stop Lucrecia from submitting to Hojo's experiment on her unborn baby.

In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, when Zack Fair hears groaning emanating from a coffin in the Shinra Mansion basement, he opens it and is startled to find a sleeping person. Deciding against disturbing the slumbering man, Zack replaces the cover, which locks back into place.

Vincent's long sleep is disturbed during Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, though not ended. On December 19th, 0006, in Episode 19, the Player Turk and Veldsearch for the Support Materia for the summon Zirconiade at the Shinra Mansion. Veld awakens Vincent, and despite the differences in their physical appearances, the two recognize each other as Vincent and Veld were contemporaries at the Turks.

Vincent helps the Turks fight AVALANCHE and displays sharp shooting skills, though he is jaded after his long sleep. The Materia is hidden in the mansion and Vincent knows of its existence; he gives it to Veld before he returns to his rest, refusing to leave with the Turks.

[crisiscutie]

Mother dearest...

JENOVA. The Calamity From The Skies. The "Mother" of Sephiroth.

A wonderful ramble/rant/analysis/whatever by C.C. about hers/its truly...

I've always found this lifeform to be so fascinating, and it's not because I am fond of monsters, okay my bias may have played in a role in it. Yet, what frustrates me is the lack of definition for it. The abilities of it seem so boundless, but obviously, it has some limits, which is why it was eventually defeated by the Ancients, right? But what exactly are those limits? The range of its powers is INSANE. Besides the obvious shape-shifting, it can read the memories and thoughts of almost anything, spawn monstrosities, and grant immense strength, healing factors and heightened senses to those who possess its cells, surpassing human and most other beings by several levels... How the hell was JENOVA defeated!? Then again, you might as well ask why the Black Materia exists while you're at it.

And then there are obvious questions like if JENOVA was controlling Sephiroth during the Nibelheim Incident, or if it is still sapient around the time of OG FF7/Remake even through Sephiroth at the helm...

I'm really hoping that the 7R trilogy will expand on its history and its species (if applicable). We need answers. Plenty of them. The more we learn about it, the more we learn about Sephiroth...

I'm especially hoping for the theory of JENOVA being an Omega Weapon from another planet is true because that would make a lot of sense... And I'm especially curious about how they will handle JENOVA's single line in the FF7 series in Rebirth.

This happens not long after THAT MOMENT... So how it will be portrayed? Will they get another voice actor? Use a distorted version of Aeriths voice? I will be annoyed if it's rewritten as a Sephiroth line.

Another aspect that I find interesting is how Sephiroth's perspective on it contrasts with everyone else's. Despite his intense disdain for human-like attributes such as emotions and sentiments, Sephiroth humanizes JENOVA, while others perceive it as nothing but a monster. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm fairly certain that the only people who even refer to JENOVA with feminine pronouns are Sephiroth and his remnants.

Now, on the flip-side, Sephiroth objectifies everyone else, only using their names when necessary and discarding them like tools once they have served their purpose. When he treats someone more than a tool, then they're just a parasite waiting to be executed. It's interesting how JENOVA is ALSO a tool for him. A special one, deserving of his love and praise. It serves as an effective weapon for the obvious reasons given in the first paragraph. It also satisfies his unmet need for a maternal figure, something he had craved pretty much his whole life. He's really putting the "everything and anything" abilities of JENOVA to the test, huh? And in a twisted way, it holds some truth, just like there is always an element of truth in Sephiroth's web of deceit. And I bet he empathized with it too when learning of his "origins". Being a monster that was used and locked away, similar to himself...

But anyway, Ignoring JENOVA would be like ignoring Sephiroth since it's so integral to his character. Especially when you consider he literally becomes one with at some point in the games. It played a significant role in shaping the Crisis Cutie we adore and love! It's who he is.

Also fun fact: I'm pretty sure that red-pink glow in the Rebirth logo are definitely JENOVA'S eyes.

[project-sephiroth-blog]

Regarding that ask of saferoth babies being human looking and your answer to that, please do go into detail how Jenova is inherited, I very much enjoy reading your headcanonings! :D

Oh boy, OH BOY

You’re poking a hornet’s nest. Where to even start, lol.

Generally reproduction works for Jenova the same way it does for anything that lives: recombination of genes and giving part of them to the next generation. The peculiarity we have with her though is that her genetic code is not a preset condition, on the very contrary she takes up the genetic traits of other creatures and by that way shape shifts partially or even fully into their form.

Basically there is a set of core genes responsible for what Jenova is as a creature and a lot of versatile genes responsible for phenotype.

Well, there is where headcanons split and it’s p much what you want to go with. The thing is, if you’ve ever heard about the Jenova Omega theory, some people believe Jenova is not a species, but a goddess. And that of course changes everything. Does everybody of Jenovian heritage shape shift or is it an ability only a god would have? We simply don’t know.

We only know Sephiroth does it taking Tifa’s appearance at the Northern Crater, by that time he has already overpowered Jenova though and is controlling her rather than she controlling him. He might already be a god himself, albeit not a fully developed one (as he still has to ascend to Safer Sephiroth).

So long story short, I don’t think CC Sephiroth could shape shift if he wanted to. Let’s assume he is a mix of human and the regular Jenovian whatever that was at the time cells were taken from Jenova. At that time meaning: the humanoid form in Hojo’s tank isn’t her true body. We’ve seen that and it’s huge and has tentacles and tries to squeeze the life out of you on multiple occasions. However at that time in the tank she had a particular, chosen genetic makeup and that’s what Sephiroth inherited. It’s the reason he has wings rather than tentacles (phew, close one Sephiroth).

You can take from this: Sephiroth looks the way he looks by chance. Because he inherited the looks of his mother she had at the time cell samples were taken from her. 

If CC Sephiroth was to have children with whatever woman he would pass on these traits. Regular splitting and recombining of genes. They wouldn’t have tentacles either.

Another problem with this is though: we don’t know what Sephiroth’s status actually is. Most people seem to think he is a hybrid - a true offspring of mixed genetics - the way Hojo describes his making, him being injected with Jenova in the womb, it sounds more like Sephiroth was a chimera. The difference is, the hybrid is actually mixed. Every cell is mixed genetics it means the very first cell had to be genetically altered so that all cells it split into would have those genetics. This can not be done by injected anything into a womb, it has to be in vitro fertilization. 

The chimera on the other hand has cells of both different species scattered in their body but they each have their own genetic code, they do not mix. This can be done by injecting cells into a very young fetus.

The hybrid is infertile because he’s now different from the rest of his species, genes cannot recombine anymore because they do not match. The chimera though is fertile as long as the foreign cells don’t migrate to the germ line and it will pass on only the traits of one parent the cells of which make up his gametes.

So really, the problems with talking about Sephiroth and Jenova and reproduction start this fucking early because we know NOTHING.

Whatever you go with changes A LOT.

Personally I really take whatever fits the story here. My most used one though is that Sephiroth is a hybrid because Jenova cells are different than mammalian cells, they do horizontal gene transfer so: passing on genes to fully developed other cells to alter them. Many bacteria do that, it’s a very much used ability to knock-in their own genes into foreign cells. It’s the way viral cells like herpes reproduce: they inject their genetic material into the host cell, hijack its dna replication mechanism and force it to produce more viral gene code until the cell dies. Sometimes it simply ‘sleeps’ there  - A LOT of viral dna actually lies dormant in humans and has become part of our genetic code.

For Jenova which would be highly viral going by that logic it would mean it’s p much dangerous af to come in contact with any of her bc you will get worse shit than cancer, suddenly you’re genetically altered. Happened to Lucrecia. Whoops. 

Horizontal gene transfer made Sephiroth a hybrid creature by ways of a method that shouldn’t have created a hybrid.

Sephiroth either is infertile or sex with him is dangerous af bc it makes you Jenovian to a degree, you really can choose for your headcanons.

Tl; dr Sephiroth is a barely researched mystery and I’m not surprised there’s a whole branch of science dedicated to S-cell research as said in CC. Sephiroth probably doesn’t have sex because the worst that can happen is that he kills someone. Sephiroth’s wounds prolly can not be treated without wearing gloves bc of the danger of infection. His blood is a hazard, if he coughed into a tissue as a kid a bunch of people prolly fucking ran. It’s the only explanation that really makes sense and allows for something like Hojo’s experiments to test the Reunion theory to work. Cloud was already a fully developed human being when he was injected with S-cells. The Cetra say Jenova gave them the ‘virus’ and they became extinct. 

P much Sephiroth must feel like he has fucking HIV and I can see why he’s not happy with his body at all. Fuck a man up like that and he will hate you for doing it.

This is depressing.

[altocat]

Heeey, i saw you answer some asks earlier relating to catboy sephiroth, and on a similar vein id love to ask you how you felt about sephiroth having more alien qualities? Like prehensile hair or weird inhuman instincts?

(or any hyperspecific weird behaviors he has due to his j cells?)

I love exploring the idea of weird alien shenanigans! Seph has plenty of traits to choose from.

-A lot of his outward physical traits are so small you might barely notice them. There's the eyes of course. They're the most prominent characteristic, capable of both rapid focusing as well as seeing in the dark, and reacting based on emotion. And of course the odd purrs and growls I mentioned as well.

-But there's other things too. Sephiroth's precognitive senses are always keenly attuned to his surroundings. Sometimes, he can literally sense things in advance, or even dream them. He's not very up to scratch on these abilities but they can be useful in battle.

-Sephiroth's hair grows alarmingly quickly, even after it's just been cut. His teeth and nails are very sharp as well, though most do not initially notice this. Sephiroth himself doesn't.

-Certain small limbs have the ability to regenerate if they are severed. Fingers. Toes. An ear. Sephiroth's healing abilities are incredible, to the point where it's extremely hard to kill him unless you go all in like Cloud did.

-Sephiroth is nocturnal. His mind works rapidly at night and his natural inclination desires sneaking about in the dark. Sometimes, he has strange desires to go hunting in the woods or to just sit outside and look at the moon. It's all extremely confusing for him. Catboy hehe.

-Part of Sephiroth's fascination with stars comes from his alien origins. But thankfully, his is more from curiosity than the need to outright conquer, at least while he's sane.

-Sephiroth has mimicry abilities from Jenova he hasn't even utilized. He doesn't know they exist. But he could probably shift his voice if he knew it was there. Or use certain sounds as camouflage to ambush the enemy.

-There's an undercurrent of brutality in Sephiroth's most secret, hidden desires. One he doesn't completely understand. The need to just go completely feral and decimate his surroundings. To claw and tear people apart. To eviscerate every human in his path. Like so many other things, he bottles up these feelings. Past trauma and frustration in his past only made it worse.

-Sephiroth also feels occasionally playful when it comes to poking and batting at things lol. No particular reason. Much like a cat, he has a hidden need to toy with smaller creatures or stare at tiny things others can't really see.

-Sephiroth's wing is only the first basic indication of prominent J-cells. There's the opportunity he could grow other mutations. He has a level of control over what shape it forms into. Due to his crazed ideas on godhood, his Safer Sephiroth form is the direct product of both his mutations and the skewed way he perceives himself. Thus, an angel, cruel and beautiful. There's the Remnants as well, though they're both autonomous and different aspects of Sephiroth's psyche.

-Alien catboy. He do a big stretch! He purr! He leap! He sits in full loaf position on the corpses of your friends and relatives!

[servantofsadako-blog1]

while it’s cool to think of cloud gaining wings or stuff due to jenova cell’s influence, i hardly see anyone addressing the one special ability that cloud did manifest (that the only other person who did show it being sephiroth).

memory access.

from what we saw in the og, cloud can have access to other people’s memories from these two examples:

1. zack’s role in the nibelheim incident: cloud remembers things that he wasn’t there for so clearly, meaning that he, at one point, had access to zack’s memories before his death (or after? maybe the target doesn’t need to be alive for this to work?) and took enough to patch his role in nibelheim in a way he could cope with.

2. when tifa saw him at the train station: before he saw tifa, i believe cloud was a blank slate. he could walk (not steadily, but enough to make him reach midgar), he had zack’s memories of nibelheim, but he had no personality he could operate with. when he saw tifa walking by, he accessed her memories and based his personality on what she remembered him as and got up no sweat after he was just a heap leaning on the train, to the extent tifa believed he was cloud (luckily, he was in this case but still). you never see tifa say ‘you changed, cloud’ in game, just the opposite really, meaning his mimicking was perfect.

so the first example shows that cloud can access memories of events he wasn’t personally there for. the second example shows that cloud can mimic the personality of anyone based on the memories of the people who knew them.

ifalna said that jenova approached the cetra as a friend, deceived them, and finally gave them the virus. while cloud can’t shape-shift the way sephiroth can, he can still mimic anyone he wished if he tried. he could know anyone’s hidden secrets and kept memories by a glance.

it’s creepy. and kinda neat.

OH BOY I HAVE A LOT TO SAY ABOUT THIS!

Lemme just preface this by saying that the whole mindreading thing has never been my favorite part of the game… I honestly just like to ignore it because it’s only ever mentioned in passing and literally never explained satisfactorily in the OG and pretty much dropped completely from every other part of the canon.  Both Advent Children and Crisis Core, which had every opportunity to expand upon it with their three - count ‘em - three Jenova babies EACH didn’t so much as mention it… the only place we see something that’s even close come up again is in DOC with Shelke’s Synaptic Net Diving ability…

So… if I were to hazard a guess at how Jenova’s mindreading powers work, I’d have to base it somewhat off of that…  I think you mentioned before that you hadn’t played DOC so I’ll try my best to explain how this works (honestly this wasn’t explained exceptionally well in-game either, and it’s been a LONG time since I last played Dirge so if there’s anyone out there whoknows better feel free to correct me).  What Shelke’s Synaptic Net Dives seem to be is a kind of combination clairvoyance/astral projection that allows her to see and minimally interact with people and things at a distance by travelling through the energy fields that power those things.

I say energy fields because I think the original purpose of this ability was to allow her to interact directly with stored data in a computer or other electronical devices (not sure why that was a necessary skill, but given the fact that Hojo was apparently able to upload his entire consciousness into a Deepground server from on top of the Sister Ray, even if I’m remembering this wrong the fact remains that this technology exists) so long as they are connected in some way (I dunno if they have to be hardwired or if Shelke can EMail her brain to people using wifi or what).  

At the end of DOC Shelke performs an SND that takes her inside another lifeform/construct of the planet - Omega.  If she could do this - literally send a piece of herself into another living being in order to peek at its insides (and potentially its thoughts, or the thoughts of anyone else she might do this to, seeing as brains are themselves just giant squishy balls of eletrical signals), we can assume that Jenova’s ability to do so probably functions on similar lines.  Considering that Shelke was not connected to Omega during her final SND, nor does Omega have a functioning wifi router lodged somewhere in its body, it follows that the energy field she used to access it was the lifestream itself.  

Jenova, given her absolutely massive amount of power (enough to wield meteor magic singlehandedly), was probably able to perform her mindreading abilities (and possibly also her shapeshifting abilities) out of sheer force of will alone, manipulating the lifestream directly in order to glean whatever information (genetic or memetic) she needed from the people she interacted with.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that Jenova had the ability to do this on a worldwide scale - being able to read the thoughts or shift herself into the form of anyone at all, at anytime, anywhere on the planet (allowing of course for the time it would take to find the specific person she wanted).  If her powers weren’t this widespread, how else would you explain the call of Reunion, where she drew Cloud (and the other clones) to her from all the way across the world.  (Alternatively, it’s possible that the call of Reunion is a lower-grade power, and that’s what allows it to function on a global scale, while her other abilities must be somewhat more localized… but either way I think their radius of effect is probably still pretty terrifyingly huge).  It’s just one of the lovely dangers that comes along with everyone literally being directly connected to everyone else via 'The Force’ - you get one bad apple in there and the infection spreads so quickly (as seen by Jenova’s extermination of the Ancients, as well as geostigma which we have a confirmation was purely spread by the flow of the lifestream and not by any other means of contact or exposure).

In order to SND, Shelke required a decade of rigorous training and numerous modifications made to her body and mind.  She also requires the use of assistive technology to allow her to 'jack in’ to whatever she is interacting with.  If memory serves, she and the other Tsviets (some of them anyway, I think Weiss and Nero might be exceptions to this rule) were given their superhuman powers primarily through exosure to Genesis’ DNA.  This makes Shelke part of Jenova’s legacy - but only indirectly.  

Basically, Shelke is a second generation Jenova Soldier, and that, to me, explains why she required such specialization in her training (she’s not a bad fighter and she’s got a pretty boss Shield materia, but her skills with SND so far exceed her skills with combat that after she locates Vincent the other Tsviets deem her to be no longer necessary and try to kill her), why it took so much out of her to learn and use her ability (she’s four-foot-nothing and looks like a ten-year-old because using her skill was so exhausting that her body didn’t even have the energy to make her grow, and suffers frequent fainting spells on top of this), as well as why she required the mechanical supports to successfully SND.

Genesis - her next closest 'relative’ up the Jenova family line never once shows himself capable of clairvoyance/astral projection/mindreading.  Even Sephiroth does not exhibit these abilities until AFTER he gets tossed into the lifestream and loses his physical form (or at least the bottom half of it).  To me this seems to suggest that not all of Jenova’s numerous powers transfer to her descendents as easily, or as equally - super strength?  check.  wing?  check.  mindreading?  maybe a grain of potential for this existed in the Sephiroth/Genesis/Angeal generation, but it certainly wasn’t a skill they were instructed to hone, or possibly even made aware of at all (I think anyone in their right mind - or even Hojo despite certainly not being in his right mind - would be terrified at the thought of a living Sephiroth capable of mindreading or limited mind control).

As for Cloud’s apparent but unexplained proficiency for it… well like I said, I like to ignore this part of the game.  There’s not really a solid reason given for why Cloud can perform this superhuman feat.  I like to think of it (headcanon warning) more as a misidentification of what’s happening.  Avalanche has been told that Jenova has the ability to mindread and Cloud in all his lack of self-confidence and willingness to name Tifa his savior in this situation probably assumes there was no way he could have pulled himself together in that moment after everything that happened and decides it must have been Jenova’s mindreading that brought him back to consciousness.  I’d argue that the reason he’s so like the Cloud Tifa rembers from her childhood is actually a result of some degree of regression on Cloud’s part due to trauma, and Tifa’s own not-so-stellar memory.  But again, that’s just me.

[beforethoughts]

Jenova was a Calamity that fell from the sky a long, long time ago, and tried to destroy the planet...—Marlene Wallace

Jenova is an extraterrestrial life-form in Final Fantasy VII

"calamity from the skies" or the "crisis from the sky" (空から来た厄災, Sora kara kita yakusai?, lit. Disaster which came from the sky), or "heaven's dark harbinger" by the Cetra.

Jenova's genetic structure is a two-way conduit: it can both take in the traits of its prey, and insert its own genes to turn other organisms into violent monsters. Once Jenova lands upon a planet it will destroy every form of life it finds. Jenova can absorb its prey's memories and form, hiding as their loved ones to destroy them.

Approximately two thousand years ago an alien creature landed on Gaia, having traveled through space on a meteorite. The impact created the North Crater. The creature approached the Cetra and used its mimic abilities to destroy them: those who were taken victim were infected with a virus (hinted to be genetic material from the creature itself) that mutated them into monsters. The creature would take the form of the fallen Cetra, and so get close enough to destroy their loved ones. Ifalna calls this process as Jenova giving the Cetra "the virus."

In this way, the creature destroyed most of the Cetra civilization. Their daughter race, the humans, hid away while the Cetra were almost eliminated. The few Cetra survivors banded to defeat the creature and quarantined it within the North Crater, where it would lie dormant for millennia. Despite their victory over the "calamity from the skies" the Cetra civilization was lost, and their numbers dwindled to almost nothing while humans spread over the Planet. As time wore on, humanity forgot about the creature and the Cetra fell into legend.

Jenova's name is a portmanteau of "Jehovah" and "Nova." "Jehovah" is a widely-accepted romanization of the ineffable Hebrew name 'יהוה', the covenantal name of the Abrahamic God. Nova is from the Latin feminine adjective for "new." Thus, Jenova's name means "New God," a point of symbolic significance, although this connection is not seen in the game.

Sephiroth being Jenova's "son," as well as the implication throughout Final Fantasy VII that he had become one and the same as her, may refer to the Christian belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, yet also via the blessed trinity one and the same with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

Final Fantasy VII draws heavily from the Lurian Kabalā (Jewish Mysticism), a medieval Jewish variant of Gnosticism. Both Gnosticism and its Kabbalist branch proclaim that humans have inside their bodies a spark of divine light from the Absolute, which returns there upon death. This Absolute is an infinite wellspring of spiritual energy, knowledge, and goodness, mirroring the function of the Lifestream. The Kabbalah states the Absolute is the Judeo-Christian God, whereas early Gnostics believed him to be an incompetent or malicious false god known as the demiurge ("artisan" in ancient Greek) who merely believed himself the uncreated deity because he was shielded from the Absolute by his "mother," an emanation from the Absolute (known as an Aeon) who fell from the skies. This demiurge, trapped in the material world, cannot create anything good, and instead corrupts the sparks of light, just like Jenova's corruption of the Lifestream and of human beings.

Jenova shares its trait as a cosmic world-consuming threat with the character Lavos, from the Square Co., Ltd. developed game Chrono Trigger. 

The migrations of the Cetra were a Planet-reverent pursuit of the fabled Promised Land conducted by traveling and cultivating life. The Cetra could commune with the Planet, an ability regular humans lost once they gave up their close relationship with the Planet in favor of leisure and convenience.

The Cetra could guide the flow of the Planet's spiritual energy, this being the means by which they cultivated life on the Planet's surface. The Crisis Core Complete Guide[1] states the Cetra are said to have opened up Lifestream veins to make the land fertile.

The Cetra served as the Planet's caretakers until their race was nearly reduced to extinction by an extraterrestrial shape-shifting entity. The alien arrived on the Planet some 2,000 years before the events of Final Fantasy VII, crash-landing on the northern continent within a meteorite. The impact site became a massive crater that would come to be known as the North Crater, a wound to the Planet that would not be healed for thousands of years.

Once the alien emerged from the impact site and approached the Cetra settlements, it gleaned their memories and emotions and adopted the forms of their dead relatives to get close to them. The alien released a virus upon the Cetra (in actuality, its own cellular material), a substance that drove the Cetra mad and transformed them into monsters.

Ifalna was among the last known living Cetra, and her daughter Aeris is believed to have been the very last (though she is only half-Cetra, as her father was an ordinary human). Because Sephiroth kills Aeris at the Forgotten Capital while she is praying for Holy, the Cetra are believed to be extinct.

According to legends, Ancients could use magic without Materia, and had an advanced magical civilization. It was believed that the race of regular people also existed at that time, and that there were wide-ranging exchanges between them, or that the non-magical people were made into slaves. Due to the belief that Ancients could use magic inherently, it was rumored that people who harbor supernatural abilities are their descendants.